WORKING, the musical

The first time I ever heard of the show was when a girl in my acting class did a song from it - "All I am is Just a Housewife" it really blew me away - its a powerfully written song. I've never seen a production of it -but I've heard the recording.
Break a leg!

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I did this show, it's a great show because it features many different people (I sang Un Mejor Dia Vendra), and the stories are all so real.
If done correctly, it's an incredibly moving piece. Have fun!

I saw a production of this just a few weeks ago and found it very average. The show didn't seem to have a flow, and there's really no "plot" to speak of which is what kind of threw me off at first. I was expecting more of a story. There are a vew powerful songs, but also some very mediocre/boring ones. Just a Housewife is DEFINETELY the highlight, as well as the Finale, See That Bulding. It seems like the male roles had no knockout material, and I found myself only remembering the female cast members. Just for the record, the scene with the third grade teacher who hated all the Hispanic students really freaked me out. Weird stuff. Anyway, have fun performing this!!

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my school did it last year. stephen shwartz was supposed to come, but couldnt, so he sent some stuff. it was really good and the variety of the music is great. "brother trucker" itself could be a non musical song, just by the sounds of it, i think.

I have seen the Broadway production (that ran all of three weeks) and one other semi-professional production.

I remember feeling after the Broadway show that all of the women's material was better than all of the men's--that the best scene for a man wasn't as good as the worst for a woman. It is also a variation of the monologues-and-song format that had been precedent-setting and made famous by A Chorus Line two seasons before. The production was over-produced and lost a bundle.

The other production used a near bare stage with very few props. They didn't have a big budget and used only the basic lighting instruments that they had and costumes that were pulled. The audience could concentrate on the show and the material and not oooh and aaah when a firetruck backed up onto the stage for instance.

The show does lack focus, a precise raison d'etre. This doesn't mean that it cannot be entertaining, funny and in the end moving.

One of the many reasons it is selected is that it is easy to rehearse. The whole cast doesn't need to be there all the time.

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It's an art is one of my fav musical theatre songs ever.

I did this show a few months after 9/11/01. Certain scenes took on a new significance, such as the fireman monologue. The finale, "Something to Point To", with the steel worker saying they should put a list on the side of the skyscraper with the names of all the people who worked on it - brought tears to the eyes.

Changes in the hew revised vesion from the original:

The Newsboy number is gone - after all, papers are usually delivered by senior citizens on cars now.

There are two new songs - "Traffic Jam" (actually an old James Taylor tune aded to the show) and "I'm Just Moving" - sung by the supermarket checker.

The hooker monologue is now juxtaposed with a monologue by a rich lady who does volunteer fundraising for a charity group - pointing out how similar their jobs are.

There is a sequence about telemarketers and phone operators.

The sequence about the merchant marine is gone.

In general, these changes provide more good material for women.

I loathed this show! I saw it at camp and it was possibly one of the worst shows I have ever seen.

It doesn't "work."

A nice touch in the Broadway production during Something To Point To.

Projected on the back wall during the song and the exit music was a list of every single person with their job title responsible for getting Working to Broadway from the authors, cast, creatives, producers, to the people who built the sets and costumes, the running crew, the house crew including ushers and doormen, and even the gofers. Everybody. Hundreds of names. It echoed what the song was about.

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